Welding electrode



Al1g- 11, 1935- `A. M. CANDY 2,050,271

WELDING ELECTRODE Filed NOV. 25, 1955 lTNEssEs: lNvENToR @M Alberi Candy.

- Y v f v Patented Aug. 11, 19.36

PATENT OFFICE l WELDING ELECTRODE Albert M. Candy, Wilkinsburg, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh,- Pa., a. corporation o! Pennsylvania Application November 25, 1933, Serial No. 699,784

13 Claims.

My invention relates, generally, to arc weld'- ing and it has particular relation to electrodes for use in performing arc Welding operations.

In order to feed by means of automatic equipment heavily iluxed electrodes, various means have been proposed, none of which have been entirely satisfactory. All ofthe electrodes that have been proposed, as far as I am aware, have utilized a metallic rod for the core and a heavy flux coating has been provided around the core. Since the flux coating, as generally compounded, comprises insulating material which. prevents the conduction of the welding current therethrough, it is necessary to provide some means for conducting the welding current to the core which is located underneath the iiux.

One electrode that has been proposed for this purpose comprises a heavily fluxed electrode having a metallic core and having a portion of the flux removed longitudinally in order to provide for applying a brush or other sliding contact means through the open portion of the iiux into engagement with the core. This particular type of electrode has the disadvantage that the flux is unsymmetrically placed with respect to the core when the longitudinal opening is made, and further, that it is expensive to manufacture and USE.

Another type of welding electrode has been proposed in which the metallic core member is provided with a spirally wrapped metallic wire, the spirals being spaced a considerable distance apart and a fiuxing compound being extruded onto the core. rI'he thickness of the ux is slightly less than the diameter of the spirally wrapped wire so that the outer surface thereof is bare, thereby permitting the conduction of the current to the spiral wire and therefrom to the metallic core. 'I'his type of electrode has the disadvantage that it is relatively inflexible and, in the large sizes, it cannot be readily Wound upon reels, from which it is desirable to feed a wire for automatic use.

A still further modification which has been proposed is to feed the current into the heavily iiuxed electrode at one end of the electrode. For this modification, it is necessary to use relatively long lengths of electrode in order to provide for automatic operation over an appreciable length of time. When the current is conducted entirely through the electrode from one end, it will be readily apparent that there is a considerable power loss in the electrode. In certain instances, the electrode may become so greatly heated, due to the power loss therein, as to seriously impair the desirable welding characteristics of the heavily iiuxed electrode.

'I'he desirable features of a heavily fluxed electrode for use in automatic welding comprise an electrode to which the welding current may be readily conducted at a point close to the arc, an electrode which, while heavily fluxed, possesses a high degree of iiexibility so that it may bewound on a reel, and an electrode which has large enough flux carrying capacity to permit the use of the necessary amount of flux so that the desired welding characteristics may be obtained.

I have obtained these desirable. features in' a heavily fluxed electrode by placing the metal, which usually forms the core and which is usually disposed in the center, in the form of a metallic spiral, the metallic portion of the electrode being on the outside and the fluxing compound being disposed within the spirals and between them. `Due to the fact that the metallic portion of the electrode is on the outside,`it is possible to readily conduct current thereto at any point along its surface. Because of the spiral form of the metallic member, the welding electrode possesses a high degree of flexibility. It is possible to provide any desired amount of ux by increasing the radius of the metallic member to any desired extent or by other types of construction which will be set forth hereinafter.

Inview of the foregoing, the object of my invention, generally stated, is to provide a welding electrode which shallbe simple and eiiicient in operation and which may be readily and economically manufactured and used.

The principal object cf my invention is to provide a heavily uxed electrode which may be fed bymeans of automatic arc welding apparatus to maintain a welding arc.

Another object of my invention is to provide for conducting current continuously to a heavily fluxed electrode near the arcing end.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a high degree of flexibility in a heavily fluxed automatic arc welding electrode.

Other objects of my invention will, in part, be obvious and, in part, appear hereinafter.

My invention accordingly is disclosed in the tion hereinafterl set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding o1' the nature and scope of my invention, reference y be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drag,in which:

Figure l is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, illustrating one emboent oi my invention; y

Fig. 2 is a. sectional View taken along the line H--II of Fig. l;

Figs. 3, 5 and 'l are views similar to Fig. l. showing different embodiments ci my invention; and

Figs. d, 6 and 8 are sectional views taken along the lines IV-IV, VI-Vl and Vmof Figs. 3, 5 and 7, respectively.

Referring now particularly to Fig. l of the drawing, it will be observed .that the metallic portion of the electrode, shown generally at id, comprises a at Wound spiral member il which isv wound in open spirals at any suitable rus and pitch to provide a sufficient space for a during compound i2. The pitch between adjacent spirals may be as great as desired, depending upon the amount of ux i2 which it is desired to provide for the electrode ill. l

l It will be understood that the spiral member l l may comprise any suitable metals which have been found desirable for use in arc welding. Thus, the spiral member il may be composed of either low or high carbon steel or any alloys which are well-known in the art.

It will also be apparent that the welding dus i2 may comprise any of the well-irnown ingredients, which are available for providing the @lenire able gaseous envelope around the arc whichis maintained between the spiral member ii and the worlr. on which the welding operation is to be performed.

As illustrated in the drawing, the dun i2 is disposed within the spiral member ii and between the adjacent spirals as at i3.- The nur. i2 may be applied by means oi various fw. processes or by any other suitable means, care being taken, however, to prevent, the application of any of the ux i2 to the outer surface oi the spiral member i i. This positioning oi the nur.

i2 is desirable in order to provide for the conduction of the welding current to the outer surface of the spiral member il without necessitating the removal or any insulating material trom the surface.

Referring now particularly to ities. 5i and d or the drawing, it will be observed that a im electrode, shown generally at lil, is provided, which comprises va dat-wound spiral member i6 and an edge-wound spiral member il.. As shown, the spiral members it and il are toed together so that the inner surfaces thereof are substantially continuous while the edge-wound member [Il enl tends'outwardly beyond the outer surface oi the fiat-wound member it.

The particular arrangement oi' the spiral inemx1 bers i6 and Il provides an additional space tor the uxing compound i2 in that it may be positioned between adjacent turns of the edge-wound. spiral il, as at i8. Since the outer suriace of the edge-wound spiralv il reins bare, it is pos= sible to conduct current thereto from any suit able contact members at surface of the electrode i5.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 5 o1' the drawing, in which a welding electrode, shown generally at 2Q, comp spiral member 2l, the cross-section or which' is in the form or an L. As illustrated, the i.shaped acconti spiral member 2l iswound having the long side v of the L flat wound and the short-side edgewound, the short side extending outwardly. It

willbe observed that the IL-shaped spiral member 2l is essentially the equivalent of the spiral mem- 5 bers it and il shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing,

.they being formed into Aan integral member, as

' illustrated in Fig. 'l of the` drawing, in which a.

welding electrode, shown generally at 25, is provided having a channel-shaped member 26 which may be wound in the form of a close spiral. The ange portions of the channel member 26 are turned outwardly and, since they are wound in the form of a close spiral, the thickness thereof may be substantially one-half that of the'short side of the L-shaped spiral member 2i, shown in Fig. 5. in the event that it is desirable to wind the channel member 2t in the form of an open spiral the thickness of the ge members may, oi course, be increased as may be desired. As shown in the drawing, the ux i2 may be disposed within the turns and between the anges oi the spiral member llt by any suitable means.

. Since certain 'further changes may be made in 30 the above construction and diderent embodiments oi the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drag shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

li claim as my invention:

l. An electrode for use in automatic arc welding comprising, in combination, a continuous metallic spiral member or indefinite length so formed as to itself provide a troughlike spiral groove, and uxing ingredients disposed within said spiral groove but not covering the outer surface of said spiral member, thereby permitting the conduction oi welding current thereto.

2. An are welding electrode comprising, in combination, a dat-wound metallic spiral member, an edge-wound metallic spiral member formed with said dat-wound spiral member, and a uxing compound disposed within said spiral members d covering said nat-wound spiral member.

3. An arc welding electrode comprising, in combination, a dat-wound metallic member formed in an open spiralan edge-wound metallic spiral member formed between the sp oi said ilatwound member and extending above the surface thereof, and a uxing compound disposed within said spiral members and between the spirals of 00 y said edge-wound member but not covering them.

Il. An are welding electrode comprising, in combination, a nat-wound metallic spiral member ot indenite length, an edge-wound metallic spiral member disposed between the spirals of said flat 5. An arc welding electrode comprising, in com- 76 y spiral member and between the short sides of said L-shaped member.

7. An arc welding electrode comprising, in combination, a channel-shaped metallicl member wound in the form of a spiral, and a iiuxing compound disposed within said metallic member and in an exterior groove formed thereby.

8. An arc welding electrode comprising, in combination, a channel-shaped metallic member Wound in the form of a close spiral of indefinite length, and a iiuxing compound disposed within said metallic member and in said channel but not covering the outer edges thereof, thereby permitting the conduction of welding current to said channel member.

9. An arc welding electrode'comprising spirally wound metallic means so formed as to provide a. spiral groove in the periphery of the electrode and a hollow center, and a iiuxing compound disposed in said groove and hollow center.

l0. An `arc welding electrode comprising a spirally wound metallic member so formed as to provide a spiral groove in the periphery of the elec- 5 trode, and a iiuxing compound disposed within said groove. 11. An arc welding electrode comprising. in

combination, a flat-wound metallic spiral member, an edge-wound metallic spiral member 10 formed with said dat-Wound member, and a iiuxing compound covering said nat-wound member and leaving bare the outer periphery of said edgewound member.

12. An arc welding electrode comprising, in 15 combination, an L-shaped metallic member wound in the form of a spiral in such manner as to provide a. spiral groove in the periphery of the electrode, and a iiuxing compound disposed in said groove. 20

13. An arc welding electrode comprising, in combination, a channel-shaped metallic member Wound in the form of a spiral in such manner as to provide a spiral groove in the periphery of the electrode, and a iiuxing compound disposed in said groove.

ALBERT M. CANDY. 

